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Garrett was a scout team quarterback with the Miami Dolphins in 2004--his final season as a player in the league, and Welker’s first. In 2005 and 2006, Garrett served as the Dolphins’ quarterbacks coach, as Welker was emerging as a potential star in the NFL. Five years later, Welker’s potential has been realized, and he credits the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys with helping in his development.

“His last year in Miami he was the scout team quarterback, I was the scout team receiver and then becoming a coach he always instilled a lot of confidence in us,” Welker said recently, per ESPN Dallas. “I remember one time I sat there and told him, ‘Jason, I think I can get them on this or that route or whatever and he said ‘Wes, you know what, you can get them on any route. It’s just great to hear that confidence from a coach and that edge. In my mind I thought, ‘You’re right.’”

In the true spirit of the pre-game, inter-team bromance, Garrett remembers Welker fondly as well.

“You should watch Wes Welker in practice,” Garrett said. “And I think anybody, if you came from Mars and never saw football before, you’d say, ‘Wow, who is that guy?’ Because he is 100 miles per hour for every minute of every day. And his success is not by accident. He is a very talented player.

“Because he is small doesn’t mean he’s not talented. He is talented. He’s quick. He’s fast. He understands the game but he is a relentless competitor. And he’s, maybe as much as anybody I have been around, he’s able to take that tempo in how he practices to the game field.”